Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1887-03-03
K IN 6
Solomon S Mines.

corruption OF solomon? (SUllmau IS the
Arabic form Of Solomon and besides, an
old isanusi witch DOCTOR up in the Manica
country told me all about it. She said that
the people who lived across those mountains
were branch of the Zulus, speaking dia-
lect of Zulu, but finer and bigger men even;
and there lived among them great wizards,
who had learned their art from white men
when ''all the world was dark" and who
had the secret of a wonderful mine of
bright stones"'
well, laughed at this story at the time,
though it interested me, for the diamond
fields were not discovered then, and poor
Evans went off and got killed, and for TWEEN
fy years | never thought any more of the
matter. But just twenty years afterward-
and that is long time, gentleman, an ele-
plant hunter does not often live for twenty
years at his buSineSS-I heard something
more definite about Suliman'S Mountains
and the country which lies beyond it. / was
up beyond the Manica country at place
called Sltanda'S Kraa1, and a miserable place
1t was, for one could get nothing to eat
there, and there was but little game about
had an attack OF fever, and was in q bad
way generally, when one day Portugee ar
rived with single cOmpaniOn-a half-breed.
Now | know your Delagoa Portugee well.
There is no greater devil unhung in a gen.
eral way, battening as he does upon human
agony and flesh in the shape Of slaves But
this was quite different type Of man to
the low fellows | had been accustomed to
meet; he reminded me more and more of the
polite donS | have read about He was
tall and thin, with large black eyes and curl
ing gray muStaches We talked together a
little, for he could speak broken English,
| Do. h.
told me that his name was Jose Silvestre,
and that he had place near Delagoa Bay;
and when he went on next day with his
half-breed companions, he said, Goodbye
taking off his hat quite in the old STYLE
Goodbye, senor,' he said. If ever we meet
again shall be the richest man in the world,
and will remember YOU laughed little
I was too weak to laugh auckland
watched him strike out for the great desert
TO the west wondering if he was mad, or
what he thought he was going to find there.
"a week passed and got the better of nv
fever. One evening l was sitting on the
ground in front of the little tent had with
me, chewing the last leg of miserable
fowl L had bought from native for q bit of
cloth worth twenty fowls, and staring at the
hot red sun sinking down into the desert,
when suddenly / saw figure, apparently
that OF a European, for it wore q coat, on the
slope OF the rising ground opposite to me,
about three hundred yards away. The fig
ure crept along on its hands and knees, then
1t got up and staggered along few yards
on its legs only to fall and crawl along
again. Seeing that it must be somebody in
distress, L sent one of my hunters to help
him, and presently he arrived, and who do
you suppose it turned out to be?'
"JOse SilveStre, OF course" said CAPTAIN
Good.
yes, Jose Silvestre, or rather his skeleton
and little skin. His face was bright vel
low with bilious fever, and his large, dark
eyes stood nearly out of his head, for all his
flesh had gone There was nothing but vel
low parchment-like skin, white hair, and the
gaunt bones sticking up beneath.
"'Water! for the sake of Christ, water?' he
moaned. | saw that his lips were cracked,
and his tongue, which protruded between
them, swollen and blackish.
81 gave him water with n little milk in it, |
and he drank it in great gulps two quarts or
more, without stopping. [ would not let
him have any more. Then the fever took |
him again, and he fell down and began to |
rave about Suliman'S Mountains, and the
diamonds, and the desert. | took him into
the tent and did what could for him, which |
was little enough; but saw how it must
end. About eleven O'clock he got quieter |
and | lay down for little rest and wen! to
sleep. At dawn l woke again, and saw lin |
i'll the half light sitting up, strange, gaunt |
form, and gazing out toward the desert. |
Presently the first ray of sun shot right |
across the wide plain before us till it reach
cd the tar-away crest of one of the tallest of |
the SULLIVAN Mountains more than a hun |
dred miles AWAY.
"'There it isp cried the dying man in |
Portuguese, stretching out his long, thin |
arm, but shall never reach it, never. No
one will ever reach it!'
suddenly he paused, and seemed to take
a resolution. Friend he said, turning to-
ward me, ARE you there2 My eyes grow
dark
Yes L said; yes, lie down now, and
rest
Gay he answered, I shall rest soon, / |
have time to reSt-all eternity. Listen, am
dyingI You have been good to me. l will |
give you the paper. Perhaps you will get |
there if you can live through the desert |
which has killed my poor servant and me-
Then he CROPPED in his shirt and brought |
out what / thought was a Boer tobacco |
pouch OF tile SIKH OIL Tie SWaTUN6Ip0llS (SdDlo
anteIope). 1t was fastened with a little |
strip of hide, what we call rimpi, and this
he tried to unite, but could not. He handed
1T to me- Unite it, he said. I did so, and
extracted bit of torn yellow linen, on
which something was written in rusty let
tiers. Inside was paper
Then he went on feebly, for he was
growing weak: The paper has it all, that is
on the rag. 1t took me pears to read. Lis
ten: my ancestor: a political refugee from
Lisbon, and one of the first Portuguese who
landed on these shores, wrote that when he
was dying on those mountains which no
white foot ever pressed before or since. His
name was Jose ola Silvestra, and he lived
three hundred years ago. His slave, who
waited for him on this side the mountains,
found him dead, and brought the writing
home to Delagoa. 1t has been in the family
ever since, but none have cared to read it till
at last / did. And l lost my life over it, but
another may succeed, and become the rich
est man in the world. Only give it to no
one; go yourselfr Then he began to wan
der again. and in an hour it was all over.